Monday, March 31, 2008

Some MLB Opening Day Thoughts

Today was the first day of the MLB season and you know what that means - six straight months of baseball in the news each and every day. Brace yourself...

There were some very good baseball games on today's slate, the best of which was probably the Pittsburgh Pirates over the Atlanta Braves 12-11 in twelve innings. The game went back and forth and just didn't seem to want to end. Another great game was the Brewers versus the Cubs, at least minus the first eight (scoreless) innings of the game. Starters, Ben Sheets and Carlos Zambrano, pitched some great ball, but when it came down to crunch-time in the ninth inning it was a completely different story. Two of the most under-achieving pitchers in baseball took the stage.

You guessed it, Eric Gagne and Kerry Wood. In the top of the ninth-inning Wood gave up three runs to the Milwaukee Brewers, as they took the 3-0 lead. Then in the bottom of the same inning something extraordinary happened. Kosuke Fukudome, Japanese native and cousin of competetive hot-dog eater Kobayashi, came up to the plate. The setting seemed electric as the entire crowd sang in chant, "Fu-ko-do-me", and on the fifth pitch of the at-bat he hit a home run to tie the game at 3-3. Too bad for the Chicago Cubs that they still lost, 4-3, and still won't end their World Series drought of exactly 100 years. Don't feel bad Kerry Wood, you aren't the reason...at least entirely.

My personal pick for the World Series champion this year is the New York Mets. They are pretty good and if anyone has a chance to dethrone the gross Yankee-Red Sox duo than it's them. So, come on, Johan Santana, don't win the World Series for yourself, or your team, or even your fans - do it for the Yankee haters.